The molecular basis of defective lens development in the Iberian mole.
BACKGROUND
Fossorial mammals face natural selection pressures that differ from those acting on surface dwelling animals, and these may lead to reduced visual system development. We have studied eye development in a species of true mole, the Iberian mole Talpa occidentalis, and present the molecular basis of abnormal lens development. This is the first embryological developmental study of the eyes of any fossorial mammal at the molecular level.


RESULTS
Lens fibre differentiation is not completed in the Iberian mole. Although eye development starts normally (similar to other model species), defects are seen after closure of the lens vesicle. PAX6 is not down-regulated in developing lens fibre nuclei, as it is in other species, and there is ectopic expression of FOXE3, a putative downstream effector of PAX6, in some, but not all lens fibres. FOXE3-positive lens fibres continue to proliferate within the posterior compartment of the embryonic lens, but unlike in the mouse, no proliferation was detected anywhere in the postnatal mole lens. The undifferentiated status of the anterior epithelial cells was compromised, and most of them undergo apoptosis. Furthermore, beta-crystallin and PROX1 expression patterns are abnormal and our data suggest that genes encoding beta-crystallins are not directly regulated by PAX6, c-MAF and PROX1 in the Iberian mole, as they are in other model vertebrates.


CONCLUSIONS
In other model vertebrates, genetic pathways controlling lens development robustly compartmentalise the lens into a simple, undifferentiated, proliferative anterior epithelium, and quiescent, anuclear, terminally differentiated posterior lens fibres. These pathways are not as robust in the mole, and lead to loss of the anterior epithelial phenotype and only partial differentiation of the lens fibres, which continue to express 'epithelial' genes. Paradigms of genetic regulatory networks developed in other vertebrates appear not to hold true for the Iberian mole.
Carmona
F David
FD
School of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, UK. d.carmona@abdn.ac.uk
Jiménez
Rafael
R
Collinson
J Martin
JM
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000502:physiology; D005123:Eye / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008971:Moles / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D051257:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-maf; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D038204:beta-Crystallins / Q000378:metabolism
D005136:Eye Proteins; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; C000605732:Pax6 protein, mouse; D051257:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-maf; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D038204:beta-Crystallins